Enemies All Around
by fangirl23
Summary: AU: Finding Sophia was just the beginning. Daryl and Carol finally find Sophia alive and well. But what happened to her? Another group of survivors reveals themselves along with a vendetta against Rick's group and soon they all find themselves fighting for their lives against the living too. Set sometime after "Chupacabra." Mainly centered around Daryl and Carol.
1. Prologue

_Hello readers! Here's a new story of mine titled "Enemies All Around." This first part is just the prologue so it won't all be this fast paced. And please bear with me on this. I've never written anything for The Walking Dead, but I'm going to try my best. Feedback would be greatly appreciated and follow me on here or my tumblr to find out about updates. Thank you! 3_

It had been days since she went missing and we had no leads. The odds were against us, but despite that, we found her.

She started off as a figure off in the distant. She was just some unfortunate person hanging off a tree over a group of walkers. But as we drew closer, we recognized her. It was my little girl. It was Sophia. Of course, I immediately opened my mouth to call out for her, but Daryl acted fast and put his hand over my mouth. I looked over at him as I tried to remove his hand. With a finger to his lips, he slowly removed his hand from my mouth. Gesturing towards the group of walkers that reached up desperately for Sophia, he began slowly creeping forward, but not before handing me a large knife.

I took a deep breath and began quietly following Daryl, who now had his crossbow out and ready. We paused behind some trees that were close to the walkers. I could hear the growling sounds from the walkers and the struggling sounds from Sophia, but I dare not sneak a peek around the trees for fear of attracting them. I'd made it that far, but stealth was not my specialty. Daryl, however, had no troubles with that. He was looking around the tree he was hiding behind, carefully assessing the scene. I began to grow more and more anxious. We had no idea how long Sophia would be able to hold on to that branch. If we didn't act fast, it could be all over. And I couldn't lose her, especially not when we were right there.

Just when I was about to try and get his attention, Daryl looked over at me. He must have seen the urgency I felt on my face because he quickly (and quietly) came over to the tree I hide behind. It was wide enough that we could both go unnoticed behind it. Leaning in close to me, he whispered, "I think we need ta draw them away from her."

"You can't just pick 'em off with your arrows from here?" I asked.

"I could." He said with a shrug. "That worries me though. What if she loses grip while I'm taken 'em out?"

He was right. The first priority had to be getting those damn walkers away from Sophia. What I did next wasn't smart, but we didn't have time for a fancy plan, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I took a step forward, away from the protection the tree provided and started running towards the tree Sophia hung from.

I felt Daryl's hand brush against my own. "Carol!" He said gruffly. "What the hell do ya think your doing?" But he wasn't quick enough. I was already right near the tree Sophia hung off of. I ran past it a little bit and then stopped.

"HEY!" I stomped on the ground as I yelled. Desperately trying to get their attention and thankfully, it worked. The walkers glances shifted towards me. I heard a yelp and then saw Sophia slid down, closer to the ground. With their food at an easier reach, the walkers lost interest in me and started reaching for her again. Thinking quickly, I held up my arm and cut a small portion of my arm.

"HEY!" I shouted again. I waved my arm around. A few of the walkers in the front of the group began stumbling towards me. Their interest intrigued the rest of the group and then they all slowly started their way to me. I backed up, still waving my arm around and biting my lip to try and cope with the pain. Behind the group I could see Daryl coming out from behind the trees, his crossbow up and ready for use.

"D-Da-Daryl, you get her first. Hear me? You make sure she's safe, okay?"

Daryl just nodded and then shot a walker in the head. The blood from my wound was dripping down my arm. It slid down my wrist and across my palm before dripping down my finger tip and landing on the forest ground. This really got them going and all of the sudden they were lunging at me.

I took off running as fast as I could. I heard the sound of a few more walkers hitting the ground before I glanced back one more time to see Sophia dropping from the tree safely into Daryl's arms.

Clutching tightly onto Sophia's hand, Daryl and her took off running after me. They caught up in a matter of minutes and we began to kill them. Daryl picked off the majority with his arrows while I took three down with my knife.

As the last one hit the ground with its guts hitting a nearby tree, Sophia and I ran towards each other. I pulled her close to me, not ever wanting to let go. I opened my tear-filled eyes to see Daryl standing off to the side awkwardly. I'll never know for sure, but I swear I saw the corners of his mouth turn up into some small form of a smile. I had no idea how I could ever possibly pay this man back for all he did those few days. But there would be time for that later. For starters I decided to stick with giving him a big smile and mouthing, "Thank you."

When he nodded at me, it felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Everything was as good as it could possible get during the apocalypse. But worse was right around the corner. Finding Sophia was just the beginning.


	2. Chapter One

_[chapter one]_

_[POV- Daryl]_

I woke up with the sun streaming across my face. I could feel its heat, but avoided the inevitable waking up part of my day by keeping mys eyes closed for a few more moments. The sound of the door I lay next to opening jolted me fully awake and I jumped up quickly. Now standing, I faced Patricia, who cared an empty, wooden tray in her hands.

"Sorry," she mumbled to me, "I didn't mean ta wake ya."

"Oh, uh..." I stood there awkwardly and rubbed sleep from my eyes. "'s no problem. I should be getting up now anyways. Don't wanna sleep the whole damn day away." I removed my hands from my face and then shifted slightly towards the door, glancing at it as I did.

"Carol's awake, you know?" Patricia said, taking notice in my interest. "Just knock."

I turned around in time to see her start to walk away and once she was in the kitchen, I turned back to the bedroom door where Carol and Sophia were. I raised my hand up, preparing to knock, however, I lingered there for a little bit.

_ Come on. You can do this. _Then slowly, I tapped lightly on the door.

I could just barely hear Carol's soft response. "Yeah?"

"Uh...it's me." I said, clearing my throat. "Uh...Daryl." I was unable to hear anything on that side of the door but Carol must have crept over quietly because all of the sudden the door was opening. She smiled widely at me. A truly happy smile that I hadn't seen in what felt like ages.

"Hey." I said quietly, taking note of Sophia's still body in the bed behind Carol.

She took a deep breath and then responded. "Hi."

"How's she doing?"

Carol nodded. "She's doing good. Incredibly exhausted, but good—" she paused for a moment before adding, "and alive."

"Hey, that's what's important."

"Yeah, yeah it is." Carol said, nodding again. She then took a quick glance back at Sophia, probably checking if she was still sleeping. Turning away from the room, she took a step towards me and lowered her voice even more. "Hey, I really didn't get a chance to—"

I cut her off quickly, holding my hand up as I did. "Carol, there's no need ta—"

"Please." She said, gently setting her hand on one of my arms which were crossed across my chest. I felt a small shiver run through me at her touch. "I just need you to know how much everything you did for her means to me. And I have no idea how I could ever thank you enough. If you hadn't found that lead with the doll and then the shoe—" Carol cut herself short this time. Taking a deep breath she looked right into my eyes. "I just—thank you. I know that's not enough, but thank you."

I had no clue what to say. No one had ever been this grateful for something I'd done. No one had ever looked at me with such gratitude. I didn't feel like I deserved it at all. I'd only done something that any other person would do, right?

"Is there any possible way I could pay you back for everything you've done for us?" Her hand was still on my arm and with these words she squeezed it lightly.

I glanced down at my arm where her hand rested. It's not that I didn't want it there, but the gesture just made me feel uncomfortable. I thought about doing the same. About reaching across the space between us and just setting my hand on her's. But even just thinking about doing this caused a knot to form in my stomach. Touch for the sake of comforting. Touching someone to convey a message and let them know how you feel or that your there for them. It's something that most people do, but it all just seemed so foreign to me. I looked back up to meet her gaze. I felt a sense of understanding between us, but despite this, Carol let her hand slowly slide off my arm. I took a deep breath and finally responded. "How bout we just leave it at this?" I said with a shrug.

She laughed a little. "Daryl, I don't know if I can do that."

Before I could say anything else, our attention was caught by Rick, Lori, and Hershel entering the house. Rick nodded at me and then gently put his hand on Carol's wrist. I could see that this comforted her and I instantly felt envious of Rick. How come this simple movement was so easy for him?

"How's Sophia doing this morning, Carol?"

"She's still sleeping, but I think she's doing better. I noticed that some of her color is comin' back and Patricia made some sandwiches, so I'll probably wake her in a bit. Get some food in her."

Rick nodded and smiled. "That sounds great."

"And I can, if you don't mind," Hershel started, entering the conversation, "giver her a quick once over, make sure there are no serious injuries."

Carol smiled widely. "Oh, Hershel! That'd be fantastic! She was out there for so long. I want to know that she's heathy, or at least not seriously unhealthy."

"I'm sure she's fine." The words came out of me harshly, but I really meant them as a comfort. Sophia had endured this much, so the rest will probably be cake. Luckily, Carol must have understood me because after I spoke, she turned to me and smiled. Her eyes all lit up. It seemed like these words made her feel better than anyone else's. I felt confused again. Why me? Why was I bringing her such comfort?

Before anyone could say anything else, a sound came from behind us in the bedroom. It was a loud, bloodcurdling scream. Carol wheeled around and entered the bedroom faster than I'd ever seen her move. I followed right behind with haste, too. Next to me, Carol let out a gasp as we saw Sophia curled up in a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks.

_Thanks for all the reviews on the prologue! 3 And it'd be awesome to get more feedback on this chapter, too. The chapter length a really going to vary on what's happening. I'm going to sort of section off the things I want to happen, so some chapters may be short like these first two, or longer._


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